The two stared at each other.
That continued until the priest thrust forward the bundle in his hands. A blanket and pillow, newly washed, dried, ready for use.
"Well, are you going to take them? Or just stand there?"
Ranma stared impassively. There, standing in front of him like a little bunny rabbit in the headlights of a very large truck, was...
A girl.
A cute girl. Definitely what many would call cute, from Ranma's experience. Looked a bit younger than him, with long, blue hair that reached past her waist, tied up with two yellow ribbons on the sides. Eyes as red as garnet. Slim, and probably a bit underfed. Dressed in a rather ragged and frumpy nun's habit, faded and often-washed. Not that it detracted from her cuteness in any way.
A bit shorter than him.
But anyway, a girl.
...
...
...
Surprise!
The girl timidly backed a step away. The young priest standing before her merely tilted his head, puzzled, and took a step forward, extending the bedthings again.
She took a step back. This wasn't what she was expecting, and she didn't know how to deal with it at all.
He stepped toward her. That didn't help one bit.
She backed away some more, and again, he followed.
Back away. Follow.
Back away. Follow.
Back aw- she tripped on something. And fell on her rear.
Looking up, she saw the priest standing above her, extending a hand to help her up.
She tried to crawl backward, away.
The young priest's concerned look gave way to an expression that could have been described as "cross", before he straightened and shrugged.
*thump*
And suddenly her world went white as he dumped his armful of linens right on her head.
Shocked, she timidly uncovered her head. The priest was already across the room, busily sweeping another section of the floor with a broom he had gotten from somewhere. It was as if he had completely forgotten about her.
She was sitting on the floor, but falling over seemed strangely appropriate. So she did.
Sunlight came through the window and shined down on a huddled form wrapped in thick blankets lying on the caretaker's bed.
A movement came from under the blankets, before suddenly they flew off the bed, a blue-haired young girl jumping up in panic for a second before realizing where she was.
Wait, where was she?
She was in a small, cozy room. There was the bed she was still on, and a dresser near it. A desk nearby, with some papers on it and an oil lamp beside them. Some wood furniture, somewhat dusty.
The caretaker's quarters?
She quietly moved toward the door and peeked out into the hallway. No one there. Silently creeping down the hall, she steeled herself and peeked through every door she came across. No one in the kitchen, no one in the utility closet, no one in the bathroom....
That left the church.
She tiptoed down the hall some more, until she came to the big door leading to the chancel. Very, very gently, she twisted the doorknob and nudged open the door.
The large, expansive interior of the church met her eye as she peered out from behind the door. Morning sunlight shined through stained glass set high on the wall. Bits of dust shimmered where they met the beams of light.
Quietly, carefully looking around, she spotted the person she was looking for, crouched in the opposite corner of the large room doing... something....
She quietly, very quietly, made her way over and stood waiting behind him a distance away.
Silence ruled the church, except for the soft sounds of whatever the boy was doing. She idly noted a peculiar smell lingering in the air around her. Smelled like some cleaning chemical. He was probably doing repair work early in the morning.
But that wasn't important. First things first.
"Umm..." she began.
"AAAHHHHH!!!"
At the boy's scream, she scrambled back, almost letting out a scream of her own. The boy, dressed in some stained work coveralls, fumbled wildly with the paintbrush in his hands, splattering trails of white paint all over the place, mostly on himself. The brush flew from hand to hand through the air and finally clattered to a stop on the ground, leaving a pool of white on the hardwood floor.
"Oh," the boy managed through gasps and wheezes. "You scared me! Sorry about that."
She could only stare at him in complete disbelief.
He stared back. "What is it? If you need some new clothes you can just ask, you know."
Belatedly, she realized that she was still in her sleeping clothes.
"S-sir, if I may ask..."
Ranma looked up. "Something on your mind?"
"Wh-what should- how- what's your name?" She reddened in embarrassment. It was, Ranma thought, really way too cute. He dealt with it in his usual way.
"Well, I'm sure you've heard how the others refer to me." And he went back to painting the wall again.
"Yes, but I... I'm not a, um, a believer. Not one of your...."
"Oh." Ranma rose and dropped his brush in the paint can. "Well, I'm not going to hold it against you or anything." He reached for a hand towel to wipe off his forehead. "How this? You tell me your name and I'll tell you mine. Sounds fair?"
She hesitated, then shook her head.
"Doesn't sound fair?"
"No, that's not it."
He gave her a funny look. "What? You got a strange name? I'm not going to make fun of you."
She shook her head again.
"Don't have a name?"
"S-something like that...."
"Oh." There was a vague sense of disappointment in his voice. Ranma shrugged and reached for the wood scratch repair kit.
"Umm... wh-why was I in your bed this morning?"
The priest made a questioning noise, then swallowed his mouthful of breakfast. "Oh, right. About that. See, I really had to get started early with the painting so that it'll dry before I go down to town today. I, er, you weren't up at the time, and I didn't want to leave you sleeping on the pew since the paint thinner I was going to use on some parts of the wall smells pretty bad-"
Now she knew what that smell was.
"-so I put you in my bed. And I put some more blankets on you, because you were shivering in your sleep. I thought you were cold. Was it too warm for you?"
The priest looked at her with a concerned look. It wasn't something she expected from him. Though from watching him so long, it didn't seem out of character either. She shook her head and took another bite from her plate.
The priest shrugged and went back to his own meal. "Why? Were you worried about something?"
"Umm, no?"
He shrugged. "Okay."
"You're back! That's... are you alright?"
The priest set his purchases on the ground and closed the courtyard gates, then nonchalantly wiped some rotten produce from his jacket. "It's nothing new from the villagers. Still not too friendly."
The girl ran inside for a towel. She made it back, luckily, before the priest tried to wipe off his hair with his hands. Barely.
"Thanks. But really, I can do it myself," the priest remarked as she enthusiastically cleaned off the bits of dirt and... egg... that were stuck to the sides and back of his head.
"No, this is the least I can do," she replied. "Come on, I made dinner like you told me to."
"Really? I was just kidding about making you cook."
"Oh..." She felt dumb.
"But if you made it, then that's great! Why are you giving me that sad look?"
"N-no reason. I was just worried that you didn't want... didn't want...."
The priest gave her an easy smile. "Well, if you're not too confident about your cooking, we can always eat mine again."
She looked at that smile, and realized that he was trying to cheer her up. Though it seemed he was trying to do it by poking fun at her. Well, in that case: "I'm sorry, but you're not so good at cooking yourself."
"It's edible, isn't it?" the priest replied as they both headed inside.
"Are you the kind of person that eats anything?"
"...yes?"
She hmphed cutely. "There you go then."
"Good morning."
"Oh, good morning!" Ranma replied. "You're up earlier today."
The girl blushed in embarrassment. Ranma didn't know why. She seemed to do that a lot. "I-I'm sorry, I'm putting you out of your room. Why won't you let me sleep in the nave?"
Ranma glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he surveyed the stained glass windows set high on the wall. "No real reason. I just thought you'd be happier sleeping on a bed instead of on a hard wooden bench. I can't let you sleep on a pew like that. Wouldn't be gentlemanly. And besides, with this cold weather, you'll catch a cold, you know." He sighed in relief as he finished his inspection, and laughed. "Good, none of the windows were damaged. I don't know what I'd do if I had to fix the stained glass."
The girl had a guilty look on her face. "I-I won't catch a cold. I never get colds."
Ranma raised an eyebrow. "Wow. You must be healthier than you look, then. And here I was, thinking you were starving or something. You sure don't look well fed. Kinda thin."
The girl gave him a very cold look. Ranma started to sweat. "What!? I thought girls liked being told they look thin!?"
Her look didn't change. "You're a strange boy."
"Does that mean I shouldn't ask how old you are?"
"You're always working, aren't you?"
"Well, you know what they say." His voice took on a lecturing tone. "'Facito aliquid operis, ut te semper diabolus inveniat occupatum.' And the rest of that stuff."
Ranma took in the confused look on the girl's face.
"'Always do something, so that the devil always finds you occupied.'"
"Oh! That one. I remember that. It's been so long that I don't remember any of that any more. Latin, right?"
"You've studied Latin?" An impressed grin magically appeared on his face. "Wow, and I thought I was the only one my age who had to go through that joyous experience."
The girl gave a shy smile. "Well, I didn't want to -('who would?', snorted Ranma)- but we had to study it in school. Mater would say stuff like... oh what was it?" She made a stern face. "'Difficile est tenere quae acceperis nisi exerceas'. And things like that. I couldn't stand it!"
"Ah, Pliny the Younger. So you've been in a Catholic school? I didn't know there was one around these parts."
Her face fell a little and she looked away. "Oh, no, not around here. And I didn't really go to school. I... was in a orphanage for my earlier years. I learned a lot of things there."
Ranma smiled kindly. "Should I not ask? You don't sound so happy talking about it."
"No, I don't mind talking about it. I was... really happy there. But I wasn't able to stay. All of my friends, who were there with me. Our caretakers. Even... even...."
Ranma sighed. "Look, I didn't want to make you all sad about it. Let's take a break, and you can talk it about it more if you want."
The young girl shook herself a bit. "Right! I'm sorry about that. I'll go start lunch."
She ran off. He watched her go.
"You don't need to talk about it if you don't want to."
She looked at the young priest with real appreciation. "Thanks, but I think I should. It's been so long that I've thought about it. I think I can do it after all this time. And... I owe you."
"Owe me? For what?" he asked in confusion.
"Because they hurt you because of me."
The priest's face darkened for a bit. "What do you mean by that?"
She shrank back in fear. When he saw it, he lightened up a bit and turned back to his task. She gathered up her confidence again. "I'm sorry. It was my fault that they came. I was there and I didn't do anything. Please don't hate me for it. Please?"
He stayed silent, noncommittal. It confused her, frightened her a little. "I want to explain, but I can't... I didn't want anyone to be hurt but...."
The priest turned around so suddenly she didn't even have the time to flinch before he was nose-to-nose.
So she flinched after he was nose-to-nose.
"Look," he practically shouted, "you DON'T NEED TO TALK ABOUT IT IF YOU DON'T WANT TO. Really. It's fine. Stop cringing so much."
And he was back to chair repair before she could even figure out what he said.
So she took her time replaying it in her mind a few times until she finally understood.
Then she smiled. And thanked him. He harumphed.
"Wow, that's really strange, isn't it?"
"What is?" Ranma asked.
"Your cross is on a chain... I haven't seen that on a priest before."
"Oh, that. Haha." He idly pulled on the cross pendant he was wearing. The tiny links of metal chain holding it around his neck clinked gently. "Well, it's a bit embarrassing actually. It's supposed to be just a plain cord. I used to have one with a cord instead of a chain, but I was, um, really careless with it and it broke off. So they had this chain one made for me. I think my Pater had them do that just to teach me a lesson, but... yeah, it was really embarrassing."
"Well, I think it looks nice on you."
"Really? I think it's kinda gaudy, personally."
"I'm sure it has some sort of special meaning."
"Knowing Pater, it probably has a lot of meaning, actually."
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Sat, 11 Dec 2004 09:02)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.